How To Prepare Amazingly For Success In Competitive Examinations

The competition these days is becoming harder and harder. Gone are the days when a graduate simply passing out of the college gets a govt. job by appearing in a competitive examination.

Every year there are many opportunities waiting for graduates in public sector. Be it UPSC (Union Public service commission), Banking, SSC (Staff Selection Commission) or any other state govt. exam, Darwin’s theory “Survival of the fittest” will work.

One who can now focus for 10-12 hours with dedicated study and able to finish the syllabus in time will be able to take the lead.

Not only Finishing the syllabus but solving past years sample questions is important. Solve the previous years’ questions for any public sector exam.

These days another method is also gaining importance whereby you learn the topic through the questions.

One can study the topics and solve all related questions or study the questions that came in previous years / mock tests.

The trend now is reverse engineering where you can try to solve a question first and then try to study the topic if you are unable to solve it.

Here we are sharing the few practices that will help you to meet success in any competitive exam.

1. TIME MANAGEMENT IS MUST

Be it the competitive examination preparation or sitting for the examination on the exam day requires focused time management strategy.

Many students start their preparation after the notification and think that they will come with flying colors in 2 months.

Ideally, one should be prepared at the time of notification. Your preparation should start at least 6 months before an exam.

Cover your whole syllabus on time. From notification to examination, the total time should be managed well for the revision. Example – If you are appearing for a bank exam make sure your Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning and General English topics remain covered a month before the examination. In the last month, revise your key topics.

2. MOCK MOCK MOCK – KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Model test papers can give a knockout punch to your preparation or you can knock out the examination with your mock preparation.

Mock tests by any institute are well-strategized tests based on previous years and think tank of the Institute.

Those tests help you to try out all permutations and combinations of generating a winning formula.

For example – Someone who is good in Quantitative aptitude and reasoning but weak in English should look for at least covering up the at least sectional cutoff and score high enough to clear overall cutoff.

A famous quotation by Abraham Lincoln says – Give me two hours to cut the tree, I will take 6 hours to sharpen the Axe.

Here your 2 hours for the mock test examination should be followed by the 6 hours of follow-on analysis so that with every mock you improve your speed and accuracy.

There is no point in giving more and more mock tests if you do not do the mock test analysis after every exam.

3. I AM A SMART STUDENT NOT A HARD WORKER

Many students these days have taken this quote as a hiding park for the laziness. There is no alternative to hard work for the exam. Smart work also comes from the hard work.

If you keep on doing the same task again an again you get the smart ways of doing the same work as early as possible. This is required for the competitive examinations.

Many students these days go after coaching institutes teaching the short tricks. Short tricks might be beneficial to you but will not help you unless and until you have the full method of solving.

Evolve your own methods rather than mugging up the methods given in books and various places. Be hard smart student not only just the smart student.

4. WHATSAPP, FACEBOOK EMAIL IS AS IMPORTANT AS MY STUDY

All social networking websites and social media tools might help you to get more and more of the study related content.

In reality, much of the social media content and tools absorb you to the level that you forget that you even started the preparation.

Keep a time schedule for TV, Facebook, WhatsApp or any other social media.

Everyone is keen to know your success rather than you being online. Once you are successful they will know, till then maintain a discipline.

5. I PREPARED WELL BUT WHAT ABOUT THE EXAM DAY

Succumbing to pressure is something many aspirants faced in the exam. The exam that is tough for you will be tough for everyone. If the exam is easy for you, it will be easy for everyone.

Research says that – as food is to the body, oxygen is to mind. You need to keep calm and have the oxygen reaching your brain.

Keep a water bottle with you. In Case you have felt the pressure wait for 30 seconds and take deep breaths.

The world is not going to fall away in those 30 seconds or a minute. Remember an athlete takes a breath when he is out of oxygen.

Being an athlete of the competition and winning the competition requires mental toughness also. You need to train not just your body but your mind also.

Remember your god, guru, mother, father or any other higher authority from where you gain strength.

Do not keep in mind that if I lose, what will happen? Instead, focus on the exam paper with happiness and confidence.

6. LOOK FOR EASY QUESTIONS FIRST

Look for the easy questions first. Do not attempt the hard questions.

You need to generate confidence. Example – If you have to solve 40 questions in 30 minutes, first look for 100% sure answers in the first 10 minutes.

Mark the questions for review which you want to read in the second attempt. Now look for the answers to the questions that you were unable to solve in the second round.

The questions that were not solved by you earlier now becomes 100% sure shot in the second round. Let’s say you were able to find 10 sure answers in the first round and 10 sure shot answers in the second round.

Now dedicate last round to the question where you had 50-50 doubt. Now you can dig more answers that too with confidence.

The beauty of the strategy here is that the more and more correct questions you solve, the confidence gets a launch pad and your flight takes off.